Road to Port de Sa Calobra (MA-2141) - crazy design of a genius engineer, inspired by spaghetti and tie knot?
The road to Sa Calobra is 13 km of crazy driving in exceptional natural circumstances. The road is widely recognized as one of the most beautiful and at the same time dangerous roads. While it is difficult to disagree with the first, because the road itself and the surroundings are unique, it is not as dangerous as some people say. Of course, the scale of difficulty of travel is very high, but with common sense you can move safely. Asphalt is smooth, and on most routes there are safety barriers or stops in the form of a high curb.
The real challenge here are mainly the passing places with coaches, because the road narrows to 2m width in some places and it is impossible to pass each other easily. Then it's hard. In the summer this can be a hassle due to the heavy bus traffic. Rain is a huge threat. Wet surface and large bevels down first, then upwards form a very dangerous and insidious mixture. We had a chance for part of the route to face this task. I recommend special attention. Suffice it to say that at 4km of the route the altitude changes by 800m (200m per kilometer). It's steep and it's easy to lose traction.
The road was founded in 1932. Antonio Parietti, who was born and died in Majorca, invented her so as to interfere with nature as little as possible and avoid drilling tunnels. It winds picturesque over the natural slopes of the mountains and the analogy to spaghetti imposes itself. In one place, it intersects with itself to form a loop, which is commonly called Mallorca Node of Tie.
On the road route there is a very interesting isthmus between the two rocks, which is the source of numerous associations that I will not suggest. Everyone should have their own 🙂
During the construction of the road, 31 000 m3 rocks were removed, which were entirely used for its construction. The work was carried out manually, without the use of heavy mechanical equipment. Being aware of these facts makes admiration for the scenery that surrounds us difficult not to admire the creators of the road.
The road starts at the junction with MA-10 near the aqueduct and ends in Sa Calobra as a dead end street with a parking lot near the beach. It takes about 25 minutes to complete it. It is worth mentioning that Sa Calobra herself appeared in the SF drama "Cloud Atlas", in which they took part, among others Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Susan Sarandon and Hugh Grant.
Antonio Parietti is also the author of the design of the road to the lighthouse at the end of Cape Formentor and the unique observation deck Mirador Es Colomer Formentor, of which I wrote more in the entry: